Sacred Texts  Christianity  Gnosticism 
Invocation, by Lord Frederick Leighton [1889] (Public Domain Image)
Invocation, by Lord Frederick Leighton [1889] (Public Domain Image)

Pistis Sophia

tr. by G.R.S. Mead

[1921]
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This is G.R.S. Mead's translation of the Pistis Sophia, the most extensive Gnostic scripture available until the discovery of Nag Hammadi texts in 1945.

The Pistis Sopha is a startling blend of primitive Christianity and Hellenic Paganism, with other elements such as reincarnation, Astrology, Mystery religion and Hermetic magic. The Goddess makes an appearance in the guise of Sophia, a fallen angel.

The text is notable because the female disciples of Jesus are treated as active participants in the discourse, in a way that would be unimaginable in later Christianity. Tensions between the men and women disciples are not glossed over. On p. 47, Peter complains that Mary and the other women disciples are monopolizing the discussion with Jesus: "My Lord, we will not endure this woman, for she taketh the opportunity from us and hath let none of us speak, but she discourseth many times." Later, Mary (p. 135) expresses her misgivings about Peter: "I am afraid of Peter, because he threatened me and hateth our sex."

PRODUCTION NOTES: In the original book, running comments are placed in the margins. The web version of this text uses Cascading Style Sheets and DHTML to emulate this layout. Hence, to get the best view of this you will need a recent browser: older browsers will still produce readable results, though not as pretty.

John Bruno Hare, July 3, 2005.

Title Page
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Annotated Bibliography

The First Book of Pistis Sophia

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
[The Note of a Scribe]

The Second Book of Pistis Sophia

Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101

A Third Book

Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125

A Fourth Book

Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132
Chapter 133
Chapter 134
Chapter 135

A Fifth Book

Chapter 136
Chapter 137
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
Chapter 141
Chapter 142
Chapter 143

A Sixth Book

Chapter 144
Chapter 145
Chapter 146
Chapter 147
Chapter 148
A Later Postscript